The vibe is casual, with posters for local events lining the walls and a large bi-fold window which opens onto Beaufort Street for people-watching.

Choose from a range of sandwiches, bagels, baked savouries, cakes, croissants, house-made pies and more standard fare like burgers. Prices start from $4.95 for fruit toast on the breakfast menu. At lunch time a burger will set you back $9.95.

Lawley's is not a full-service café. You queue and order at the counter. If you want water, there's a set-up near the door with glasses, but you have to fetch it yourself. Some reviewers complain of poor service but I've visited several times without any dramas.

While inexpensive as a café, Lawley's is not the cheapest when it comes to bread to take home. The quality, however, is exceptional – with the dense but fresh ciabatta my current favourite.

I agree that it is a nice, casual, inexpensive dining place and I am quite a brekky regular. The food is pleasant enough and the staff are nice.Self service is quite the norm now so why would any one fuss about it. At least it isn't murderously expensive like a place at King's Park I went to recently. Not only did you have to get your own water and place your order at the counter you had to go and pick it up as well after some device beeps at you.The cost for a very weak pot of tea for 2 with minimal milk and no extra hot water plus a smallish slice of extremely ordinary lemon brulee was $23 which is outrageous when you factor in the self serve aspect. I guess you are paying for the view. I don;t understand why anyone would go there at those prices. It will be a thermos and a bakery bag for my friend and I in Kings Park from now on I assure. As to Lawleys I just wish they would learn to do decent coffee. I found the coffee to be quite tastless and boiled to death or luke warm. My answer has been to eat at Lawleys and drink tea, wander across to Baker And Schuhandlers for a browse, then onto Kartique and then zip up the road to Soto for a decent coffee afterwards.
Cheers